Receiving Donor Sperm

What does treatment using donor sperm involve?

We use donor sperm to treat patients for a variety of reasons: it may be that your male partner is not producing his own sperm, you may be women in a same sex relationship or a single women wishing to have a child.

Donor Insemination uses the technique of intra-uterine insemination (IUI) which involves placing motile sperm in your uterus at the time of ovulation. It can also be used in IVF and ICSI treatments.

Who are our sperm donors?

We do not currently have our own donor bank at Bath Fertility and the availability of sperm donors from other clinics in the UK is very limited.. Consequently we usually import donor samples from one of two overseas clinics who meet all HFEA licence requirements. All donors have had a full family medical history taken and are screened in a similar way to blood donors.

Occasionally patients ask to have treatment using a donor that is known to them (e.g. a friend or a member of their family). In these cases, a strict process is followed and requires full screening and counselling for both the donor and recipient.

Finding a sperm donor

The two overseas clinics that we use most frequently are the European Sperm Bank (Denmark) or Xytex (USA). We ask that you select and purchase your own donors unless your treatment is NHS funded. Both clinics provide comprehensive detailed information about their donors and will guide you through the purchasing process. More information is available at www.europeanspermbank.com or www.xytex.com. We maintain good communication links with both clinics and will liaise closely with them to ensure the safe arrival of samples in Bath.

A new UK donor bank has recently been set up Semovo.co.uk. Currently you cannot use their website to search their sperm donor catalogue, therefore patients should email buysperm@semovo.co.uk with their donor preferences and Semovo will search their internal catalogue for the donors that are the closest match.

How successful is treatment using donor sperm?

Success of treatments using donor sperm is very much dependent upon your age, fertility diagnosis and the type of treatment used. Our average pregnancy rate for Donor Insemination is 23% but the latest information can be found at www.hfea.gov.uk

If you would like a copy of our Receiving Donor Sperm leaflet please call 01761 434464 and speak to one of our dedicated patient advisers who can help you with any questions you might have.

"Nurses here are all so lovely, very calm and reassuring from arrival through to the treatment and after care. Thank you for all your support."

"Everyone here has been so friendly, caring and personal – thank you. It has made what has been quite an emotional journey so much more bearable. We are not at the end yet but there is nowhere else we would rather be for our treatment. Thank you"

"As we stressed when we saw you, we couldn’t be more pleased with the services that Bath Fertility provides – and not just because we were successful first time with IVF and had two beautiful twins."

"Nurses and medical staff excellent. Both clinically professional and knowledgeable but with a caring and very human manner. They have all made a stressful process much more comfortable."

"Thank you so much to everyone involved. The whole process has been nerve wracking but you all made us feel comfortable and involved every step of the way."

"We are always very impressed by the care, attention and friendliness of staff at the clinic. Their approach instils trust at such an important and emotional time and we have every faith that everything is being done to ensure successful treatment."

"Couldn’t have been a better service and experience. Nurses were all fantastic and I feel very lucky to have been fortunate to attend this particular clinic. Such beautiful people – keep up the good work and many thanks."

"I just wanted to write to thank you so much, from the bottom of our hearts, for all of your help with helping us to conceive. We were thrilled that on our first attempt of IVF under the care of you that we have fallen pregnant."

"We felt extremely well cared for by you and all of your staff at Bath Fertility. We felt so well informed and cared for throughout the whole IVF process."

"We wanted you to know that as professionals ourselves, we were hugely impressed with every stage of our treatment, and all the staff that make it possible. The work you all do is truly amazing – my mother keeps saying “it’s a miracle” and I have to correct her and tell her it’s not a miracle, it’s science!"